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Dairy cow choice: eating in or eating out?

A study investigating the preferences of dairy cows for an indoor or an outdoor environment.

Year of Publication2010

Grazing at pasture by dairy cows could be expected to satisfy their welfare needs. However, this may be insufficient to supply the nutritional needs of the modern high yielding dairy cow. There has been limited and, sometimes, conflicting research on the preference of dairy cows themselves for indoor or outdoor environments. Results from the initial study at Reaseheath College indicated that cows mainly preferred to go indoors rather than outdoors but this does not mean that grazing at pasture is unimportant for the welfare of dairy cows.